Under-20 World Cup: USA vs. South Korea (Matchday Commentary)

The U.S. Under-20 national team has its fate in its own hands. A win or a tie today vs. South Korea (12:45pm, ESPN2) in its final Under-20 World Cup group match will put the Americans into the second round of the tournament. A loss would leave seriously jeopardize the U.S. team's chances of advancing.

The Americans will be coming in with confidence after a stunning 4-1 victory against Cameroon in its last group match. South Korea comes in off a 1-1 tie vs. Germany.

I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Commentary after the jump):

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FINAL- That's all for me. Please feel free to share your thoughts (and anger and disappointment) on today's match in the comments section below. Thanks for following along.

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FINAL- South Korea 3, USA 0. An awful, awful performance and now the Americans need a series of things to take place in the remaining games of the first round in order to sneak into the second round. As bad as they looked, does anybody want them in the second round?

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91st minute- USA needs to try and find goal here in order to have a better shot at the second round. Four minutes of stoppage time remain.

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88th minute- USA fans can look on the bright side. The Under-17 World Cup is coming soon and the US team in that age group is much more highly regarded (and I wonder if it could have done a better job in the U-20 tournament). Okay, I'm kidding. A little.

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86th minute- Still 3-0. Americans holding onto third place in the group right now.

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80th minute- Thomas Rongen is sure to hear a lot criticism for the team's performance in this tournament, as he should, but you have to wonder whether the talent just isn't there in this cycle. Would a different formation and lineup have made the difference? I'm not so sure after watching these guys play.

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78th minute- Yellow card for Brek Shea for a two-footed challenge. That would be a red card on some days. WOW.

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76th minute- Yellow for Davies, after pulling down a Korean attacker after being stripped. This game has turned Gold Cup Final ugly.

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75th minute- GOAL KOREA!!! And it's 3-0. This is over and the tourney just may be over for the USA.

Germany leads Cameroon 3-0 though, so USA is still poised for third place in the group if it can keep the scoreline 3-0.

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74th minute- PENALTY to Korea and Opara gets a second yellow card.

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72nd minute- Kyle Davies for Jared Jeffrey. Davies moves to left back and Flores pushes forward into a left wing role.

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71st minute- Duka with a poor shot after a nice move.

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70th minute- Korea comes close after ripping the US defense apart again with a nice pass.

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68th minute- It looks as though Rosetti thought he had already booked Opara, when he had booked Agbossoumonde earlier in the match. At least he corrected that mistake.

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66th minute- Korea draws a foul in the arc and Opara gets a yellow after originally being shown a red. Flores with the original foul. Not sure how Opara gets a yellow when it was Flores who committed the foul. Dangerous free kick for Korea.

Opara misses the next match, if there is one.

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64th minute- A better sequence from the USA, but they can't find a shot on frame.

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63rd minute- Shea with a shank of a shot.

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62nd minute- Diskerud is in for Arguez, and Williams stays on the field.

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60th minute- Diskerud is coming on.

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59th minute- Cruz shot BLOCKED.

How does Korea win so many balls in the air against a defense as big as the U.S. team's?

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58th minute- Williams beaten again, badly, but the Korea cross can't find a shooter. Rongen needs to get Williams off the field.

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57th minute- Another US turnover. This looks hopeless.

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55th minute- Korea's defensive organization is impressive. They stay compact and every player is adept at being able to close down his opponent.

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54th minute- More possession for the USA this half, but still no real good chances being created.

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52nd minute- South Korea subs in a striker for a right back, and we just might see Korea push hard for a third goal.

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51st minute- Flores gets down the flank but his cross is blocked. Still waiting for a good cross in for the USA.

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50th minute- Korea with another attacking surge, but it is ended by a bad shot. U.S. midfield still being outplayed.

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48th minute- The corner leads to nothing, but Korea did get a shot. Amazing how many corners have led to shots for South Korea.

HALFTIME- Peri Marosevic comes in for Tony Taylor. That's the only sub for the USA.

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HALFTIME- In the group's other match, Germany is leading Cameroon 1-0. Cameroon was issued a red card just before halftime so it looks like a good bet that the Americans can hold onto third place in the group if it can keep the score 2-0 or score a goal.

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HALFTIME- What moves could Rongen make? He could take Peri Marosevic out of the Witness Protection Program, or wherever he's been hiding the FC Dallas striker. Diskerud has to come into this match. Who comes out? Cruz and Shea are the leading candidates. Williams has been horrid today so you shouldn't rule out a sub involving him.

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HALFTIME- South Korea 2, USA 0. The Koreans are dominating possession and the American defense has committed blunders at the wrong time. As for the U.S. attack? It's been non-existent.

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45th Minute- USA can't wait for the halftime whistle. South Korea is moving the ball around with ease.

Rongen needs to make some changes. Williams looks lost today and the three-man midfield is being thoroughly dominated by South Korea.

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43rd Minute- The U.S. defense has been exposed here. Korea is in complete control.

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42nd Minute- Korea is knocking it around with easy, squeezing the life out of this game as the Americans fail to apply any real pressure.

GOAL KOREA!!! Williams is beaten by Bo Kyung Kim and South Korea is up 2-0.

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40th Minute- Taylor needs to stop going to ground so easily. Rosetti is a slightly better ref than the college refs Taylor is probably used to.

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39th Minute- A better sequence from the USA, but Cruz's cross is too weak and the Korean keeper smothers it.

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36th Minute- Shea has a high work rate, but he's also a turnover machine. At what point does Rongen make a change?

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35th Minute- Koreans dominating possession.

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32nd Minute- Ref Rosetti has more successful tackles than any U.S. player so far.

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30th Minute- Another Korea corner.

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29th Minute- Agbossoumonde with a yellow for a high boot. His first of the tournament.

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27th Minute- Not to single him out, but Brek Shea has yet to do much with the ball, which is shockin considering how much of the ball he's had in this tournament.

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25th Minute- A closer look at the goal shows the corner actually hitting Williams in the back. Agbossoumonde fails to clear it, leaving the ball for Korea to finish.

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23rd Minute- GOAL SOUTH KOREA!!!!! Another corner that isn't cleared, this time the Americans are punished. South Korea 1, USA 0.

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22nd Minute- The way Korea is playing I'd say the Americans might be better off playing four midfielders. The lack of pressure from Korean defenders would make it easy to break their defense down, but they can't string passes together with the current group.

Another Korea corner.

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21st Minute- WOW, Korea hits a point-blank shot off the underside of the crossbar, bounces down and out. The shot was blocked by Brian Perk onto the crossbar, before bouncing down and landing in Perk's hands.

Arguez follows with a shot from distance that forces a save.

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20th Minute- Korea corner.

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19th Minute- Early indications are that the Korean forwards don't really have the speed to separate from the American centerbacks. It will take a pretty sharp passing sequence to break down the U.S. defense (Korea has already done it once).

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17th Minute- The U.S. team's strength and tenacity will create some chances at some point, but right now they're struggling to create.

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15th Minute- Koreans look content to knock the ball around in midfield. Do they know they need a win today?

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14th Minute- Opara called for a foul. He's on a yellow so a yellow today would mean he misses the next match, assuming the USA advances.

PRE-GAME- There had been some concern about Tony Taylor's hamstring but he's ready to go. No Mikkel Diskerud for a second straight match, but you would imagine he will see some time in the second half.

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PRE-GAME- Here is the USA's starting lineup:

———Shea———–Taylor————-Cruz——–

——————Duka————Jeffrey—————

————————–Arguez————————-

Flores——Agbossoumonde—Opara——–Williams

————————–Perk—————————-

If that lineup looks familiar, it should. It's the same starting XI that beat Cameroon.

I hate this crap why the USA always have to give the other team half of the field. Korea is going to kill us if the USA doesn’t pressure. Like always Stupid coach that we have. SEE GOAL from Korea Damn it Rongen get you Sht together

Ives right on, maybe it will be Mix for Shea later.
@ Judging Amy – South Korea is almost always a difficult matchup for us. However, we started off with a ridiculous defensive posture (despite the formation). Let’s see how things change from here.

Sorry, Angel. I’m going to have to call you out on this one. Obviously there are things that we need to be doing better in order to prevent goals like this in the future, but can we PLEASE stop calling our coaches “stupid” whenever there’s a poor passage of play or disconnect on the field? Rongen is not stupid, nor is Bradley or anyone else within the National Team setup. Throwing the coach under the bus every time something happens we don’t like is myopic, reactionary, and certainly no way to come to a better understanding of the deficiencies within a program. It’s actually just “stupid.”

I’m sorry but Rongen is an idiot. Why the hell is Shea playing out wide and Taylor playing target forward when Taylor should be out wide and Shea playing target forward? Also Taylor is playing like a Black Clint Dempsey, in the bad sense of playing like Clint Dempsey

im sorry, but brek shea is awful. i have not seen one good thing from him during the whole tournament. is he really the best striker we have? and how can bryan arguez not get playing time with hertha, arent they in the drop zone?

I guess to be fair though, this type of performance at this level is to be expected. Where do young American players have to play that allows them to develop?

This game is well over. Embarrassing. I can’t imagine how this team beat Cameroon! This game could easily be 10-0 score if Korea didn’t miss so many chances. This game has looked like a professional team against a high school team right from the start.

Why is everyone on here so critical of Brek Shea?
He’s been the only one creating anything close to a chance.
Don’t let the Brit announcer dictate the way the match is actually going. The Brit announcer has sounded pretty idiotic for about a week now in every match.

I’m not listening to the Brit announcer; I have the Spanish feed after that ridiculous commentary in the CMR game. However, I do wonder wtf you are watching if you think Shea has been having a good game. They’ve all sucked, and he’s turned it over more than most.

How can one NOT blame the coaches? Stringing together passes to maintain possession is a reoccurring problem for American teams. It ain’t that hard. See? Korea is doing it. We play ugly football and that is clearly a reflection of our poor coaching.

To blame coaches for this train wreck of a team seems pretty silly. Should a coach have to teach you not to panic 40 yards from your goal and kick the ball out for a corner as soon as an opposing player comes toward you? Is it really the coaches fault that they play like frightened children?

Korea has just realized what a joke this team is and are really going to come after them now. I have not seen any U.S. team this embarrassing since the U.S. team that played in it’s first World Cup in forty years back in the 1990 World Cup.

Rongen is at the begining wasn’t even playing a 4-3-3 he was playin 5-4-1 with taylor a top as a lone stricker plus this taylor suck big time.. Flores and everyone their passes are either long, short, too hard or too soft and the keep giving it away. Please Rongen get your act together and please stop defending this coach can you see how our players are playing… or what kind of game are u guys at watching

Yea, but Shea’s essentially playing as a winger and MOST of his turnovers have been near the Korean goal. What’s killing us is the bad passing by Arguez and Jeffrey in the middle of the field. Korea excels on breakaways where the defense is off balance, and their giveaways are making this game a foregone conclusion.

I tell you something Wilmir Cabrera should take this team, I bet the USA U17 can kick the F out this USA U20 butt. The U17 have more skill and know how to play real South American Football Soccer. This Colombian guy is the Best Coach the USA had What the U17 World Cup and you’ll see how they play. Rongen & Bradley are the same style of playing. THey both suck.

Thanks for noticing Cape. I’m glad you are excited about the prospects of our national team with such mediocre coaching. I can call you a lot of things, but I’ll be nice and just say you are very ‘optimistic.’

When Rongen brings this squad out (minus Tony Taylor) in the 2nd half and they win this match the trolling will end.
We could have won in Azteca and some would still be calling for Bradley to be fired. Hell, Bradley coached us to the Finals of the Confederations Cup and many still doubt him.
This gets old and stupid quick. Coaching a squad at this level is not like coaching you 10 year olds community team. You youngsters will learn soon enough though.

“Sorry, Angel. I’m going to have to call you out on this one. Obviously there are things that we need to be doing better in order to prevent goals like this in the future, but can we PLEASE stop calling our coaches “stupid” whenever there’s a poor passage of play or disconnect on the field? Rongen is not stupid, nor is Bradley or anyone else within the National Team setup. Throwing the coach under the bus every time something happens we don’t like is myopic, reactionary, and certainly no way to come to a better understanding of the deficiencies within a program. It’s actually just “stupid.”

“We could have won in Azteca and some would still be calling for Bradley to be fired.”

A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position.[1] To “attack a straw man” is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by substituting a superficially similar proposition (the “straw man”), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.[1] [2]

Adam – I don’t think 3 points will be enough to have a chance at a third place spot.

Posted by: Justin O | October 02, 2009 at 01:45 PM

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There are a few scenarios that allow us to squeeze through to the next round with 3 points, but I agree they’re unlikely. Just trying to put a silver lining out there as these games help get me through work.

@ this guy:
Really be honest tell me are you really happy with how the USNMT senior is performing now how this U20 is doing. I see you like to be very optimistic not only you but a lot of USA fan are like you. Don’t have any passion for the game that you only it count is the win and not the style of playing. I bet you don’t care if the USA is playing bad as long they win. But not me I want the USA to win all the time but if we loose at least we loose playing well and a beautiful Futball soccer with a lot of Guts…

I love the way a group of armchair coaches feel qualified to make sweeping generalizations about players they’ve seen for all of 45 minutes and about career coaches who have a far more intimate knowledge of players and their habits than they do.

One of the characteristics of players at this age is their inconsistency — at any given moment, you are just as likely to see the worst a player has to offer as the best they have to offer. Today’s heroes are tomorrow’s goats and vice versa. It’s like watching Clint Dempsey times ten…or eleven. Rongen is in the unhappy position of not only bringing up these players to work as a team, but of having to make individual player selections in view of the myriad variables that may effect a player on any given day. That’s not as easy as many of you boneheads seem to take for granted. I’m not saying he’s above reproach, but I do think he’s being unfairly judged by the majority of the people following this match.

I never expect an online forum or messageboard to carry thoughtful, insightful discussion across the board, but I’d rather we not cater to the lowest common denominator with a bunch of reactionary spouting.

man this has got to be one of the worst performances i’ve seen from a us team at any level.
the team looked like it came out playing for the tie. unmotivated and lacking a sense of purpose.
the individual performances have been poor. the tactics have been inexplicably absent (why are we dropping back so much after being down a goal? presumably to play the counter, right? then why is there no support for our forwards after they receive the few balls that get to them? why do we hold up the play when the other team turns it over?)
ah well the boys are young and talented there’ll be more tournaments for them.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, Cruz just ain’t very good. The guy didnt start playing soccer until he was 13 or 14. It actually takes a fair amount of technical ability to control a pass with that much pace. Cruz simply isnt at that level. You can’t blame him, it’s just a fact. The pathetic thing is that he’s supposed to be one of the best and brightest in this entire nation.

I dont think thats necessarily true. Sure there’s a minority who’ll never be satisfied with anything BB does, but I think most nats fans realize that BBs at the least a decent coach and are able to give him props when he performs well.

Not reactionary. This isn’t the first disappointing performance, Jamie.

Posted by: 49ers | October 02, 2009 at 01:54 PM

I have already stated I don’t think Rongen is above reproach, but I have seen Rongen-coached teams play fluid attacking football against powers like Brazil and Argentina.

Sometimes, it makes more sense to tweak a formula than to throw it out the window. It’s a characteristic of reactionary thinkers to assume that any hypothetical course of action taken in preference to a failed course of action would have yielded significantly better results.

Well guy I been playing since I was 18 yrs old and today I turn 42 is my birthday and I will really would like my team to play with passion and intelligence but like I said is how the had been coach. I been watching world cup since Argentine in 78 I know this game and I love it.

Can I least have my USA team play good today and give that as birthday present is that much to ask, For a team that people had it as one of top team in this U20 world Cup. Not to mention that Costa Rica & Honduras are that close to go to the next stage.

Jamie Z. at the begining I though we will get a win but I started to watch this game and I lost it cause the way the are playing. See how they are loosing their cool. That what make them suck…But I love my USA

Jamie is a real a-hole mocking Angel for his grammatical mistakes. Real classy.

Posted by: 49ers | October 02, 2009 at 02:08 PM

Yep, I’m a real jerk.

I love that not throwing Rongen under the bus makes me a Rongen apologist. What I’m in favor of is making a reasonable assessment of a team’s performance after a competition, taking stock of it’s strengths and weaknesses, and drawing up a gameplan for the future with that in mind. If it ends up being the case that Rongen is not the man to take us forward, then by all means, we should proceed accordingly. And this may be the case this time around. We have not looked good in two of our three matches this tournament. But hyperbole and scapegoating is not a very productive method of diagnosing a problem and THAT is what I take issue with. It doesn’t fix anything.

Sunil Gulati is watching this thinking “thank god I live in a country where this result will appear on page D12 and I’ll never have to answer for my failure to develop my country’s vast pool of soccer talent. Whew. And anyways it’s just a part time job, back to my lesson plans.”

worst officiated game ever opara didn’t touch the player on the first yellow. his second yellow the striker jumped into him and opara was between the man and the ball and shea’s yellow card was all ball. announcers are anti-american as well

I’d say the British clown has been pretty accurate. We’ve been dismal. We hardly deserve to be on the same field as Korea. I’d say the Honduran U-20 team would probably represent CONCACAF better than we have. He’s just calling it like it is.

The other thing that annoys me is the constant attempt by our players trying to be fancy on the field, just play simple. Why try and take on two players? why not pass it to the open man? Its the EA Sports FIFA culture, they think its a video game and they are playing as Ronaldo.

why can’t this be laid entirely on him? He chooses his tactics and he chooses his players to play to his tactics? If the players aren’t the right ones, then its the fault of the guy who choose them, unless of course these are the only u20 american players available.

Does it really matter whether it’s the talent or Rongen? He seems like an average coach, and his team in Canada wasn’t bad, but it’s not a lifetime appointment and losing this big might provide the perfect opportunity to see if someone else in this country can coach U-20s.

I’ve done my fair share of hating in the past (mostly Bradley hating) but while i may disagree with their strategy these are not dumb people. They have lived and breathed the game their entire life and know infinitely more about it than a lot of us ever could.

That Shea challenge was clean.
Some of you must be from the new age football where diving is okay and CRonaldo is the best player in the World.
Ignorant.
That Shea challenge was a typical Maldini/Baresi challenge that would have gotten applause 10 years ago.

of course Ives will no say anything bad against Rongen nor Bob Bradley even tho he know that they both suck as coaches for the USA. Rongen did good job last U20 World Cup because he had Zizzo, Altidore, M. Bradley, Adu, Robbie Roger, Statela, who are better player back then.

(SBI-Don’t be an idiot. If you read this site with any frequency you would know I criticized Rongen after the first game.)

ok the coaches aren’t stupid. can i say the entire USSF is scary smart to keep all their jobs while producing zero results.

Posted by: moosecat | October 02, 2009 at 02:28 PM

Zero results? Just what do you consider a result. We made the World Cup quarters in 2002 and just made it to the finals of the Confederations Cup. I’d say the US are actually punching above our weight in recent competitions. We’re a fledgling soccer nation and people expect us to be the big boys overnight with no growing pains. That’s not how it works. Sometimes it takes time to do things right.

The only good that can come out of this game is that this group of players gets a real wake-up call. Maybe, they get an idea of what it takes to to play at the international level — the fitness required, the cohesion and discipline of 11 players working together, and the sheer skill that is needed to play at this level.

I don’t know if this group of players has it in them, but they will need a lot more practice than they’ve been getting. They need to be fitter, and they need to be more skillful with the ball.

Otherwise, we’ll just have to wait for the U17s to grow up. Hopefully, they are better at this game. Watching Ike Opara — who some have claimed would have been the first pick in the last MLS draft — makes me wonder if there is any real ability and understanding of the game in this country. He has not been good. If he’s the best defender in college, we’re in trouble….

What are the avearage ages on the U.S squad?? Most Koreans are right at 20yrs old. The Germans had a few that were up there too. I can think of atleast 10 players that are 19-20yrs old that could of played in this game for the U.S!:) I’m going to have to check the average age on each team in this group.

Joe B you are my idol. I normally get annoyed with the people who constantly whine about the US coaches instead of asking for some responsibility from the players but you my friend are different. Instead of coming in with a silly claim or a FIRE BB post you instead provide us with a wikipedia definition of the straw man fallacy which I guess you hope will sharpen our skills in the debate squad? Anyway I was wondering if you could please tell me what the title of the appropriate fallacy is when someone presents an unprovable opinion as a fact. To be extra kind I’ll give this example, “BB should be fired, we need a a real coach from the international scene, then we’d be much better.” I’ve been wondering what the name for this is, a statement which can in no way be proven either correct or false but somehow the speaker (or in this scenario every whiner out there) takes to be fact. Help me out here my friend

Zero results? Just what do you consider a result. We made the World Cup quarters in 2002 and just made it to the finals of the Confederations Cup. I’d say the US are actually punching above our weight in recent competitions. We’re a fledgling soccer nation and people expect us to be the big boys overnight with no growing pains. That’s not how it works. Sometimes it takes time to do things right.

Posted by: Jamie Z. | October 02, 2009 at 02:32 PM

Thats BS Jamie, we lost to SOUTH KOREA!!!! not Brazil, not Argentina, not France, SOUTH KOREA!!!

I don’t expect a US team to those nations mentioned above, i do expect them to win or at least compete against teams like South Korea. which obviously didn’t happen today.

Interesting that you should mention the 2002 World Cup. The 2002 coach was labeled an imbecile, moron, arrogant, etc. for not advancing out of the 2006 Cup first round in the hardest group in the tournament and with nightmare officiating against him, Bradley gets lots of credit for taking the team backwards.

Average age for the U.S squad is 18yrs. Some 19yr old on the squad too. A few 17yr olds also on the squad. Korea average right at 20yrs old!???…. The U.S team looked like an MLS team today!lol Very sloppy!

By the way I’m not even a huge BB supporter I’m just tired of the coaching staff taking all the blame and the players who never see the field are revered as being the answer. Could someone else do a better job? Almost positively but people griping really isn’t going to change anything so some more insightful opinions rather than the standard “HE SUCKS” would be a nice change. I will admit, it is a little bit like a town’s youth team having a coach with his son on the squad but that isn’t his or Jr.’s fault so lets just move on.

Let throw in some MLS bashing while we are at it.
I don’t watch MLS because it’s inferior to Europe! Fire Bradley! Fire Rongen! Call in Bernardo! Adu should be at ManU by now! Beasley is garbage (usually shouted from the couch of a Fat American)!

One of the skill sets that jump out is what each team did from wide positions. For example, early in the match Shea put three or four balls over everyone’s head. Not to pick on him because nearly the entire USA team has poor ball skills.

As for this game, Korea was just quicker to the ball, more skillful, and better organized, long hopeful balls had no chance. If US scouted their previous match they would have seen these strengths.

Judging what kind of soccer nation we are based on comments here is a bit silly don’t you think. This isn’t exactly a meeting of the great minds of soccer having a serious discussion on the state of American soccer.

I don’t see how any of these players will ever be able to hold down a job once they manage to screw up their soccer futures within the coming months. They will probably all end up homeless. I feel so bad for all of these kids since posters on SBI have already determined their futures for them.

Let throw in some MLS bashing while we are at it.
I don’t watch MLS because it’s inferior to Europe! Fire Bradley! Fire Rongen! Call in Bernardo! Adu should be at ManU by now! Beasley is garbage (usually shouted from the couch of a Fat American)!

Posted by: This Guy | October 02, 2009 at 02:43 PM

MLS is inferior to most European leagues but I still watch it. We shouldn’t fire Bradley. Rongen’s time “might” be up. No on Bernardo. No on Adu. Beasley’s form is in tatters right now and his Nats days are probably over, but he was once such a sick player (I’m in pretty good shape).

Just wanted to see how I stacked up in terms of your definition of a toolbag US Nats fan haha.

That Shea challenge was clean.
Some of you must be from the new age football where diving is okay and CRonaldo is the best player in the World.
Ignorant.
That Shea challenge was a typical Maldini/Baresi challenge that would have gotten applause 10 years ago.

LOL – a two-footed jumping lunge with no intention of playing the ball is clean? In what weird reality do you live in?

kyle – please let me know how brek shea is solid. He has started 3 straight games in an attacking role and he has scored no goals, he has had no assists, and has yet to beat someone in a one on one situation, let alone deliver any quality balls from a wing position.

worst officiated game ever opara didn’t touch the player on the first yellow. his second yellow the striker jumped into him and opara was between the man and the ball and shea’s yellow card was all ball. announcers are anti-american as well

Posted by: pflavin | October 02, 2009 at 02:22 PM
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Well, I’d say that is one of the best 3 or 4 refs in all of FIFA. He’s consistently great. As for the cards — Opara certainly hit the guy on the first. Of course, the reason he hit the guy might have been because Flores had already tripped him, making it hard for Opara to miss him. The ref did get that one wrong. On the other hand, Opara probably deserved a red for the last foul anyway. He jumped between the defender and the ball and made no effort to play the ball. And there was only the one announcer.

I’ll have to rewatch the play sometime to see if you internet insult is worth it. Immediately before turning off my TV I saw the Korean player turn into Opara’s path to the ball. Grats on the internet insult though, those are always awesome.

Break Shea left me wondering: is it possible that a person’s second touch be worst than their first touch?

“Thomas Rongen is sure to hear a lot of criticism for the team’s performance in this tournament, as he should, but you have to wonder whether the talent just isn’t there in this cycle. Would a different formation and lineup have made the difference? I’m not so sure after watching these guys play.”

Agreed about the talent in this cycle. But given that fact it reflects even more poorly on Rongen – clinging to a system that’s difficult for the kids to play, and a challenge to hold midfield in, when all we needed was a tie in this game to advance! To me that’s a coach not properly approaching the game situation.

I just think these guys are not comfortable in this system ,it does not suit there styles and that comes down to the coach, I don’t see why Davies doesn’t start if he’s healthy enough to be a sub, this team lacked experience and leadership, it sooo obvious no one was getting on anyone for giving the ball away, or encouraging eachother, that comes down to coaching and picking the right squad which rongen did not do, if we are to take the u20’s seriously then so should the coach and the team and from this display I don’t think so. Rongen should lose his job, its not enough to get there anymore, we want results and we want a team that looks like they know what they are doing. South Korea Looked so confident and so sound, and those kids probably all play in there domestic league, but they are nutured in there system and are tactically aware and sound, our system is so broken becuase we have guys playing every where and on three completly different levels, that needs to change, I think part of making this squad should be you have to be a pro, and I love the they look like an MLS team comments, obviously people who say that don’t watch DC United or Houston, or Chicago, teams that can play the ball around and are technically sound, that type of enironment would have definetly helped some of these guys especially Opara, and Williams who thinks he’s to good for an MLS team. The game today was a disgrace. Eachone of these guys should man up from Rongen on down. I hope they get eliminated so that we dn’t have to put ourselves through another dismal performance.

Well, I’d say that is one of the best 3 or 4 refs in all of FIFA. He’s consistently great. As for the cards — Opara certainly hit the guy on the first. Of course, the reason he hit the guy might have been because Flores had already tripped him, making it hard for Opara to miss him. The ref did get that one wrong. On the other hand, Opara probably deserved a red for the last foul anyway. He jumped between the defender and the ball and made no effort to play the ball. And there was only the one announcer.

Posted by: fischy

Thanks for your opinion but you’re just some kid on SBI. Why should we listen to you?

@fischy
What I’m saying is that Football worldwide has gotten so soft that it’s a commonly called foul and card today. It wasn’t like that 5-10 years ago and many of the greats of the game wouldn’t last a half in today’s matches because of all this garbage. It’s just like getting tripped up or kicked in the shin: It’s happened to me alot and I’ve never felt so much pain that I drop to the ground and roll around. If you watch a college soccer match you won’t see one player, not one hit the pitch or fall down. Soccer/Football is just getting gay to be honest.

yes i want them in the 2nd round of course b/c im a fan of all U.S. national teams, but this is unexcusable….they were supposedly the easiest of the group…..where is the consistancy from rhongen and his players

maybe if they get through they can bring back the mojo from the game against cameroon

@The Truth,
I grew up in Italy. I doubt you know me or what I’ve done.

LOL, you don’t know anyone else out here or what they’ve done but you throw aspersions around too. Pot meet kettle. But, here’s where you claim to be some former stud pro player who was unfortunately before his time, was an All-American in college and also have 25 US soccer coaching licenses blah blah blah and played with half the current USMNT when they were kids. Whatever dude.

@TheTruth
I never claimed to be pro or anything. I played until I was 15 and then quit playing when I moved to the States for good. My father was American so I moved to Indianapolis with him when he got a job at the Speedway. I joined the Army outta high school because I felt American and I felt pride. I got out of the Army 6 months ago after 12 years in. I was Airborne Infantry, stationed most of my time in Italy with the 173rd.
Anything else you wanna know?

Im sorry to hear all of your comments. Is like some of the players are actually in Queaker land like a writer said. No good player or foward could actually work or look any good with this midfield. The midfield dont target there foward. Taylor nor Marosevic could do anything onless they drop and play midfield. Usually Taylor does that I have seen him play but there were concerns about Taylor hamstring and he had to sit out, and there goes the game. There is not much a foward can do, you cant blame theme after all is a team. And this foward are more talented then Altidore or Adu so stop comparing that with this midfield not even them could have done anything. If Taylor is out tell me what happend after he did came out NOTHING!! HE IS NOT THE PROBLEM IS THE MIDFIEL AND THE DEFENCE GAVE OUT 7 GOALS!!!!

this guy said it correctly…..the US(mens) team itself is EXTREMELY young, rhongen is an awful NATIONAL TEAM coach and some like duka on U-20’s still have potential, U-17 team is great, adu, altidore, bernardo, boths garzas, and a. wallace were not called up and they have great futures ahead of them, so US Soccer is in no apparent danger in the future…..if the US team does not advance in this tournament my friend rongen has to go, no doubt…..are future is not in danger but he is dangerous seeing that tournaments like this can ruin players like Brek Shea and Ike Opara for the rest of there careers

hate to say it but hope they do not get another game. If they play a really good team, they could be the first USA team in ages to really get shelled. (Putting aside the 5-0 in the Gold Cup final). I certainly do not see any future talent here. Then again, maybe Wrongen rejected the nextSubotic but he has no other country to play for.

See, it doesn’t matter that this group is not that talented. Here’s what good footballing nations do when they show like they have this tourney: they sack the coach. France is, of course, the exception. Players not good enough? Well Rongen picked ‘em. Formation not right….ditto. Bad officiating? Can’t hide behind that on this one. Utter lack of discipline? Yup, that’s coaching too.

Alright, so it’s the U20 World Cup. It doesn’t mean that the senior team is in dire straits in the near future, because so much of the core group of the senior squad is so young, and reportedly the U17 team is exceptional. Let’s not forget that two others who are age-eligible for this team are Altidore and Adu…

Still, the thing that annoys me the most about US Soccer is its over-reliance on the same retread coaches. Rongen has always been a horrible coach, yet he still seems to find work with US Soccer. You can’t tell me that with all the quality youth teams and the quality colleges out there that US Soccer can’t come up with someone better?

We are witnessing another USSf failure. Look at the player selection. Not a one has a soccer brain. Probably soccer IQ deficient. The simplest passing maneuvers unattainable. The soccer basics of geometry and timing are devoid. How were these players selected? were they the fastest? The tallest? It is obvious that nothing was learned from the Adu fiasco. The future of US soccer is bleak. Although it has been observed that the American brain lacks the quick, spontaneous, improvisational brain power, player selection flaws are also extant.

I was embarrassed to see such an unorganized and undisciplined gang representing our country. Skill is not the lacking factor. Cameroon likewise played without organization and we won big. Germany left their best players at home, played with organization and won big. Korea was a better organized and better disciplined TEAM, they won big. We had good players playing pick-up soccer.

To all the clowns (ie. ‘This Guy’) who think the Brek Shea challenge was “clean” or legal – I’ll quote an official from the English Premiership.

“A player who jumps into a tackle two-footed is not in control of himself and therefore if he makes contact with the player, ball and player, or if the referee determines there to be excessive malice in the challenge, he will be dismissed.

“There has been no ‘clampdown’ on the tackle or new directive issued referees are simply applying the law as it has always stood.”

It is ILLEGAL to dive in with a two-footed tackle, regardless of if you get the ball or not. This is evident everytime you watch the EPL, Serie A, La Liga or whatever and you see a player called for a foul when he does it. Frankly Shea was lucky he didn’t get sent off and to claim that Maldini and Baresi did this on a regular basis is total bs.

I was embarrassed to see such an unorganized and undisciplined gang representing our country. Individual skill is not the lacking factor. Cameroon likewise played without organization and we won big. Germany left their best players at home, played with organization and won big. Korea was a better organized and better disciplined TEAM, they won big. We had good players playing pick-up soccer.

if RSA wins, then they move to 4 points and are in at least as a 3rd place team

if HUN wins or ties, they are in

If UAE wins (UAE already in at least as a 3rd placed side with 4 points)

then HUN could drop if they lose by more than 4 goals. not very likely, This group probably has 3 teams coming from it

Group E next

AUS is already out

it’s all down to Costa Rica (CSC)

BRA and CZE are already in at least a 3rd place spot by having 4 points

CSC win or tie and they are in

If CSC loses to CZE, then the US may sneak in, depending on the score

CSC is already at a -2GD, so a loss would only increase that (and confirm NGA advancing as the top 3rd place team at 3 points with the highest GD of -2)

If CSC loses by 2 or more, then the US would get in.

If CSC loses by 1, and they score 2 goals, then they are in and the US is out (GF being the tiebreak after GD). If CSC scores one goal and loses by 1 (a 2-1 loss), then they have an identical record in GD and GF, and the next tiebreak is fair play.

I didn’t get to see this game, but I really don’t need to. The scores tell it all. 3-0 losses to both Germany and South Korea tell me this U-20 group isn’t ready for prime time. I sure hope the MNT system can somehow avoid needing to call up guys from this cycle, because if they have to, it tells me there are many more years of 2nd tier status for the US Senior MNT to come. Pathetic…

I’ve never been a big fan of the youth development system in the US. There’s WAY TOO MUCH emphasis on things being result based, rather than skill based. In Holland for example, youth players don’t even compete in tourneys that mean anything until they are 14 or older. In the US, there are 8, 9, 10 year-old kids playing on traveling teams that are all about winning, rather than skill development. It’s ridiculous. As well, all of these “select” leagues that we have here cater to the wealthy that can afford it. Poorer kids who could possibly be great soccer players often don’t get a chance to participate in our youth system because they don’t have the often $1000+ needed to join and travel with a team.

That player should receive a red card a a three game ban. That aint no soccer player. The kind of player I hated my whole life. Nothing to do with the game. The class players need to be protected. Might as well start at the junior level with enforcement. If you want to watch bad wrestling, then watch Rugby, NFL, or UFC.

Why is there no pressure on Rongen? Why does he get a pass? Becuase Freddy Adu and Altidore got him to the quarters in 07?

If you are going to just blame the players, then why did Hackworth get fired for the u17 tourney? Some of those players are now u20s and got the same results. The difference: Hackworth got fired after the u17 tourney. Someone said its because Rongen has done well in previous tournaments. Well Hackworth won his 2005 u17 group with 7 points beating Italy, Korea DPR and drawing Ivory Coast. Far better a result than Rongen’s 07 group.

we played horribly that first game and third game….but we are not knocked out yet for 1 and 2 they did have one win atleast and a big win

3. WHICH IS MOST IMPORTANT to those saying they cant pass….FIFA possesion had US with 51, that means the passing cant get too awful

people are flipping out for no reason about the future of US soccer….our US mens team is young, adu, altidore, wallace, g garza, s garza, bernardo were not called up, we have talent on this team, but we have an ignorant coach….AND OUR U-17/U-18 team is unbelievable, i was looking at it on ussoccer.com and we have two chelsea youths, two arsenal youths, and one barcelona youth……calm down, its really starting to annoy me when people start whining about the future of USsoccer

Let throw in some MLS bashing while we are at it.
I don’t watch MLS because it’s inferior to Europe! Fire Bradley! Fire Rongen! Call in Bernardo! Adu should be at ManU by now! Beasley is garbage (usually shouted from the couch of a Fat American)!

Posted by: This Guy | October 02, 2009 at 02:43 PM

MLS is inferior to most European leagues but I still watch it. We shouldn’t fire Bradley. Rongen’s time “might” be up. No on Bernardo. No on Adu. Beasley’s form is in tatters right now and his Nats days are probably over, but he was once such a sick player (I’m in pretty good shape).

Just wanted to see how I stacked up in terms of your definition of a toolbag US Nats fan haha.

Posted by: Judging Amy | October 02, 2009 at 02:52 PM

Judging Amy (never liked that show): A little more thoughtful than some other fans but on MLS you still make “This Guy”‘s point. Is MLS SUPPOSED to be on par with most leagues in Europe? The league is less than 15 years old, soccer is MAYBE the 5th most popular team sport in this country and yet the sport has still grown leaps and bounds in this country over that time despite barely being on most U.S. sports fans radar. A large part of that has been the steady, consistent growth and improvement in the quality of play and support of MLS. The better the domestic league does the better the USMNT team will ultimately be since they groom our young talent. Most top European clubs won’t be taking any of our elite players into their academies so let’s support and build up what we have instead of just casually dismissing it out of hand.